Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act: Final Report of the Expert Panel

The Canadian statute that legalized the possession of cannabis in 2018 provided for an official review of its implementation and impact by an independent panel.

That panel has published its final report.

From the executive summary:

"Based on the evidence presented to us, we believe that there has been significant progress made on several of the key objectives of the legislation. Notably, these include:

• the establishment of a licensing framework supporting a legal industry that is providing adult consumers with a quality-controlled supply of a variety of cannabis products
• steady progress in shifting adult consumers to the legal cannabis market
• for the most part, adherence to rules on promotion, packaging and labelling, including prohibitions about making claims about health or lifestyle benefits
• a significant reduction (95% between 2017 and 2022) in the number of charges for the possession of cannabis and minimizing the negative impact on some individuals from interactions with the criminal justice system"

"However, it would be a mistake for governments to adopt an attitude of complacency with the current regime or move away from a public health and public safety approach to cannabis. Continuous assessment of what works and what needs to change is necessary in a framework that is a radical shift from an era of prohibition, which limited research and evidence-based policy. Our consultations have uncovered the following areas of concern..."

Those areas of concerns are related to young people's use of cannabis, high-potency products,  Indigenous communities, various costs to industry, the need for better enforcement of regulations, and access to cannabis for medicinal purposes.